The Playwrights Database
SUE RIDER
Nationality: Australian
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Literary Agent: n/a
Sue Rider works as a director, writer and dramaturg in Australia and New Zealand across mainstream Theatre, chamber Theatre, opera, community Theatre, Theatre for young people and Theatre in galleries. She has received eleven writing commissions and has won Matilda Awards for writing and direction of the Matilda Women and Dancing on the Walls of Paris as well as for directing work with the Queensland Theatre Company, Queensland Performing Arts Centre and La Boite Theatre, where she was Artistic Director from 1993 to 2000. In 2001 she won a Special Matilda Commendation for sustained contribution to Queensland Theatre. Sues writing credits include the plays Freedom Ride, Bumpy Angels, Federation Ragtime, Meeting Karpovsky (co-author with Helen Moulder and Jon Trimmer), winner of NZ Listener best new play, Playing Miss Havisham (co-author with Helen Moulder); and youth operas Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing, the Iron Man, Zoggy the Time Traveller (co-librettist with Jim Vile) and the Silence Tree (composer Malcolm Fox). Sue has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland School of English, Media Studies and Art History since 2002 and received an Arts Queensland Creative Fellowship in 2006. Sue was awarded the 2009 Playlab Award for outstanding contribution to the development of new performance work in Queensland.
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below is a list of Sue Rider's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Bumpy Angels Dancing On the Walls Of Paris Deadly Eh?! Freedom Ride. . .I Have A Dream Matilda Women, The Meeting Karpovsky My Story Your Story Playing Miss HavishamBumpy Angels
Synopsis:
It is February 1954. In a home for pregnant and wayward girls somewhere in Australia, a group of young women are coming to terms with being hidden away because of the shame of breaking society's taboos. With little in common except their condition, the women work in the laundry, singing, arguing and laughing together under the supervision of the Sisters of Mercy. When a young Italian migrant woman arrives, tensions and prejudices surface and finally erupt just as the young Queen passes by on her Royal Visit.
Notes:
Originally written as a graduation piece for acting students at QUT Academy of the Arts.
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
2 Act 120 mins Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: 10 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDancing On the Walls Of Paris
Synopsis:
A group of performers lead an audience through a series of moments where ideas, forms and images of the artist Toulouse Lautrec, and Paris in the 1890's connect and clash with the dynamism of contemporary art. Set in a circus, the action roughly follows Lautrec's life from birth and childhood through his development as an artist and his increasing 'insanity' until his eventual death.
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
75 mins Performance/Circus
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDeadly Eh?!
Powerful, dynamic theatre about identity, belonging and the courage to be yourself. How does a teenager accept or acknowledge their Aboriginal identity when it has been hidden for so long? Jordan has a white Mum and an Aboriginal Dad. Jordan wants to make a mark on the world, but which world? Is it possible to navigate a path between two cultures and still remain true to yourself? Or is there another way altogether thatd be real deadly, eh?!
Notes:
Deadly Eh?! was developed with students from Brisbanes Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) for Artslink Queensland as a touring production.
1st Produced:
Alexandra Hills Secondary College, Alexandra Hills, Queensland, Australia 15 Jul 2013
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playlab Press 978-1921390463
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama, Indigenous culture 15 min - 60 min
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: Slight adjustments allow the play to be performed by actors of any gender
Further Reference:
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Top of PageFreedom Ride. . .I Have A Dream
Synopsis:
A play in two parts on the subject of racism. Part One presents the story of the Montgomery bus boycott arising from the refusal of Rosa Parkes to give up her seat on a bus and leading to the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. Part Two is set in contemporary Australia, in the household of a group of young people who re-create the sixties' Freedom Ride in order to heal the spirit of Auntie, an Aboriginal woman, who is the centre of their world.
Notes:
the play requires seven or eight versatile actors, all of whom should be good singers. A minimum of two musicians is also required.
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1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/ -
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
2 Act 120 mins drama with songs
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMatilda Women, The
A joyous theatre event which celebrates the lives of nine extraordinary women from Queensland's past. Fast-moving imaginative theatre where in a moment a rope from a washing line can represent a ship; a step ladder becomes a magistrate's seat or a rocky hill; and a bed sheet, a baby. the Matilda Women celebrates the strengths and achievements of women past and gives inspiration and confidence to women of the future.
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1st Published:
Playlab Press, 1993 0908-156448
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
75 mins Comedy Docu-Drama with Music
Parts:
Male: - Female: 4 Other: Minimum cast -4, maximum cast - approx, 20
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMeeting Karpovsky
Synopsis:
In the dance of life Sylvia has two left feet, but Karpovsky has arrived to tutor her in hope and grace. Years ago, Sylvia travelled the world and its greatest ballet theatres; now she lives alone in a house filled with photographs of her favourite dancer and boxes of her daughter's unwanted possessions. Sylvia knows all the dances and has all the moves in her head, but is afraid to step out. then the great dancer Alexander Karpovsky - she has seen him dance 127 times - turns up mysteriously in her lonely room and breaks through her brittle cocoon. - the Listener
Notes:
Created by Helen Moulder, Sue Rider And Sir Jon Trimmer
1st Produced:
Circa Two, Wellington 09 Nov 2002
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
piece
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMy Story Your Story
From a remote Indigenous community to the bright lights of the city, Jesse discovers that everybody's story is worth telling. Jesses family have always loved singing, dancing and telling stories. When talent scouts visit the remote Indigenous community where they live and pick out Jesse from the rest, it looks like the opportunity of a lifetime. But being billeted with a city family is not what Jesse expected. It is only when Jesse meets Sam that they both learn that everyones story is important.
Notes:
My Story, Your Story was developed with students from Brisbanes Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) for Artslink Queensland as a touring production for primary school students.
1st Produced:
Saints Peter and Pauls School, Bulimba, Queensland, Australia. 16 Jul 2013
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playlab Press 978-1921390470
Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama, Indigenous culture, 15 - 60 min
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: Slight adjustments allow the play to be performed by actors of any gender
Further Reference:
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Top of PagePlaying Miss Havisham
Synopsis:
Claudia lives an hour out of Christchurch with her farm accountant husband and son Ben who plays in a band. When an eccentric Irish film-maker comes to New Zealand to make a film of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, Claudia sees a way out of her humdrum existence and auditions for the role of the jilted bride Miss Havisham. As she prepares for the role, Claudia finds her own life takes on the twists and turns of a Dickens novel. A solo work of unexpected visual richness, Playing Miss Havisham unfolds with mystery, music, comedy and surprise. Complete with wedding dress and cobwebs.
- http://www.theatreview.org.nz
- http://www.theatreview.org.nz
Notes:
Written by Helen Moulder And Sue Rider
1st Produced:
Circa Two, Wellington 17 Feb 2006
Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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